Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

21 reviews

qstew's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Stalking, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Body shaming, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Suicide attempt, Confinement, and Torture

kypo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was good for around the first 2/3 of it but the last half dragged on unnecessarily. I got the feeling the author didn’t know how to end the story. The concept of the novel is intriguing though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, and Suicide

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

This one was a let down... 

Murakami can write really beautiful passages but this 1000+ book was just way too long and about 40% of it was just boring descriptions of mundane things. I do enjoy it when an author takes care to describe certain details but this was just too much.

We follow Aomame, a young woman who climbs down a staircase off a freeway and finds herself in a seemingly different world from her own. On the other hand we also follow Tengo, a young man who is tasked with ghostwriting a novel for a teenage girl by his editor. Aomame and Tengo live different lives and the first Book in this novel is spent trying to figure out how they fit together.

The themes explored in this book go from loneliness, religion, the power of literature, broken family dynamics, and more. Some of it did feel visceral and real, but others were just explored over repetitive and overdone writing. 

Then there are all the descriptions of women and anyone who isn't perfectly attractive in the author's eyes... it was just awful. The mysoginy was rampant throughout as well as deeply uncomfortable descriptions of certain intimate encounters that left me feeling like chucking the book in a corner and going for a walk. 

I do not recommend this novel, it's not magical realism in my eyes, it's fantasy/sci-fi. It's entirely way too long for what it is and it's not enjoyable in the least. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Rape, Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, and Lesbophobia

delekelll's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think the max I can give this book is 4 stars, because I enjoyed it and it was enthralling, but THE sex scene  and the gratuitous focus on every single female characters boobs threw me off. (hey murakami is that something you can speak to ????) I enjoyed the way that the secrets of the novel were given out very slowly, and I thought the ending was great. I think that now I've read both favorite books of someone who was not the nicest to me I understand more about them. Also, I feel like I should have taken longer to read this book. 1170 pages in 4 days is a lot. But, I felt the need to finish and move out of the cat town while the train still stopped for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Dementia, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Rape, Animal death, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Definitely unsettling, when it is not outright morally reprehensible. However, it was a very fascinating book and some of the triggering materials related to the above content warnings were justified in being included in the novel.

frosted_croissant's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed Murakami's writing but reading all three of the books in one big collection sometimes became a chore with his very descriptive writing style. I swear there were some facts that I read about 45 times throughout this book. Other than that this was a beautiful and TENSE story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, and Suicide

bluemings's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

It was really hard to give this book a rating. On one hand, the monotonous 925 pages felt like forever, new questions popping up all the time with hardly any answers, demanding most of my time and my brainpower. Yet, after turning the last page, I felt like I had achieved great triumph, everything slightly coming together. But overall, this book was great. Sure, there were probably 300 pages of excess description, but that's part of the reason why this book felt so great: Murakami's intimate descriptions of the small moments of Tengo and Aomame's lives made the story jump off the pages, and really displayed reality: small, simple actions, like making dinner or listening to music. I will say, the ending felt a bit lackluster, and there were a million different plot threads which were left unresolved, but perhaps the ambiguity of the end gave light to the novel as a whole, to portray the beautiful sea of unknown which we all happen to be sailing in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Acephobia/Arophobia, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Biphobia, Cancer, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Infertility, Abortion, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, and Toxic friendship

quixie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I loved this book until about half way through then I started to trudge through it. The novel was too long and bloated, but I still liked it. Too many references to breasts and public hair, though, and the sex scenes made me laugh. Loved the fantasy element, didn't really feel the romance. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Violence, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Murder

stooby's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

madleina's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

amazing storytelling but…

• difficult portrayal of women
• very heteronormative
• sexual remarks concerning minors

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Death, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Suicide